Quorn Court - article from 1953

4th December 1953 – Loughborough Monitor

Quorn Court – stately home of Col. W.S.N. Toller

The village of Quorn is familiar in name, at least, to most people no matter where they live because of its association with the Hunt. It is nearly half a century, however, since the hounds and the hunt horses were domiciled at Quorn, and long before that the attractions of the village had been eclipsed by those offered by Melton Mowbray.

The number of large houses that remain are a mute witness to Quorn’s former glory. Four of these are prefixed with the name of the village – Quorn House, Quorn Hall, Quorn Court and Quorn Place (now the Bull’s Head Hotel). Another was Quorn Lodge which was demolished shortly before the last war. It is with Quorn Court, the property of Colonel Shirley Northcote Toller, D.S.O., T.D., D.L., that we are concerned this week.

As with the White House at Cossington, there are no title deeds to indicate when Quorn Court was built, but references have been made from time to time which enable us to gather some idea of its early history and owners.

The first appears in the History of Leicestershire, by Nicholls, who refers to it as “a small house with only a garden and stables”, but let at 100 guineas a year to Lord Foley and Sir Stephen Glynn.

A more detailed allusion is contained in the Sporting Review of 1841, where reference is made to the use of Quorn Court as a school of high reputation, “kept by the Rev. Mr Burnaby”.

The third reference is in Potter’s “Rambles round Loughborough” of 1868:-
“Mr Cradock’s handsome mansion….was once the abode of the Duke of Dorset. It was once suggested that Dorset House would be a good name for it, but the late excellent owner hated pretence of any kind, and judiciously adopted Quorn Court. Many remember it as the home of the Boyers and the Burnabys – two much respected families. We remember it when it contained many specimens of feminine loveliness as were ever seen in one family.”
The “late excellent owner” to whom Potter referred was Thomas Cradock, a solicitor with an office in Sparrow Hill, Loughborough. In Leicestershire hunting circles few names were better known than his, members of the family having been associated with the Quorn Hunt since the first decade of the last century

When he took over the property, the house was a small one of two storeys. He considerably altered its fabric, adding a third floor making extensive additions to the west and surmounting the whole with a balustrade. The north wing of two storeys was added later. The architect employed on these alterations was William Railton, who five years previously had been engaged on the rebuilding of Beaumanor Park.

Mrs Archie Moss tells me that her grandfather, Thomas Cradock, used to relate that when he bought Quorn Court, one of the bedrooms was called the Duke of Bedford’s Room. After Railton had been engaged for some time on the alterations, he (Thomas Cradock) went to see the progress made, and found that nearly the whole of the old house had been demolished with the exception of part of the ground floor, and the Duke of Bedford’s Room above. These were incorporated in the new structure.

The Cradocks lived at Quorn Court until 1926, when it was sold to Mr Allcock, architect, of Loughborough, who immediately disposed of it to Colonel Toller, its present owner.